Hasson - Mindfulness : Be mindful. Live in the moment

Table of Contents

Cover design: Binary and the Brain

2013 Gill Hasson

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ISBN 978-0-857-08444-6 (paperback) ISBN 978-0-857-08443-9 (ebk)

ISBN 978-0-857-08442-2 (ebk) ISBN 978-0-857-08441-5 (ebk)

For my Dad who died while I was writing this book.
He always knew that the present moment is life itself.

Introduction

Recently, I listened to a palliative care nurse talking about her work with terminally ill patients. She explained that a key aspect of her work was to help provide a sense of now for the dying; to enable people to make the most of their time; to live their life with purpose, dignity and support; to make the most of the present, rather than getting too caught up in regrets for the past or fears for the future.

Her work is clearly meaningful and valuable. But listening to this nurse, it made me wonder why so many people might wait till they're dying to learn how to make now such an important part of their life.

From the moment we're born, now is always what we have. There is never a time when our lives are not now, in this moment. The present moment is, in fact, life itself!

Life unfolds in the present.

As George Harrison once said: It's being here now that's important. There's no past and there's no future all there is ever, is the now. We can gain experience from the past, but we can't relive it; and we can hope for the future, but we don't know if there is one.

How can you make the most of now? By learning to be mindful.

You may think that being mindful requires an ability to completely clear your mind and go off into an altered state in an attempt to get to a better place. Not so; mindfulness does not involve complex meditation routines. Mindfulness is not about having an empty mind or suppressing thoughts and feelings. Nor does it require years of practice, sitting in the lotus position in a flowing white robe on a beautiful beach.

There are two ways of practising mindfulness; the formal way and the informal way.

Formal mindfulness is probably better known as meditation; it involves following established practices; taking time out of your day to be still and silent, to focus on your breath, to be aware of sounds, senses, thoughts and feelings.

Informal mindfulness requires no conventions. It simply means bringing mindful awareness to everyday life; to daily activities such as eating, walking, driving and housework. Informal mindfulness is also part of your interactions with other people; at work, at home and in your social life.

This book is concerned with informal mindfulness it is about mindfulness outside of meditation.

Your mind is able to think back and reflect on past events and experiences. Your mind can also think about the future; it can plan ahead.

Of course, your mind can wander to good things; you can remember good times and anticipate forthcoming events. But this ability to think back to the past and forward to the future is not always an unmitigated blessing.

Too often, life is racing by. There's no time to experience what's happening now, because you're busy thinking about what needs doing tomorrow or you're distracted by thoughts about what did or didn't happen yesterday. And all the time your mind is chattering with commentary or judgement.

Other times you can get stuck in the past, going back over and over events or becoming paralyzed by worries about the future.